'19/#30 The Jello Has Shaken

Just a picture of our rig somwhere in our travels.

I always say our plans are written in jello and tell other RVers that the best tools they can carry with them is preparedness and the ability to adapt. Things happen and you have to deal with them. Let me get to the point. Our jello has been shaken and drop kicked on the wall.

We left Petaluma early Tuesday morning with plans to stop in Bakersfield. That would be about the 300 miles we usually do in one day. Because we got such a good head start and we made good time the decision was made to motor on through to Las Vegas. That would put us a day ahead of our schedule and give us a little more breathing room on our journey to south Texas. Enter the shaken jello.

As we approached Barstow CA the tire monitor went crazy and a trailer tire blew. We safely got to the side of the road, change the tire, and were back on the road in 25 minutes. A personal best for us on a tire change. Does NASCAR need another pit crew? In Barstow we got a new tire and set out for Las Vegas only losing an hour and a half. Still making good time.

A ways down the road we heard something that sounded like a tire blow out but the tire monitor and our mirrors show no tire problems. Opting to play it safe we pulled over to see what made the noise. Tires good, trailer fine, truck had nothing in the grill or underneath so we decided to keep on going. Started off fine but started to lose power. Mary called a Ford dealer in Las Vegas who could see us the next morning so we chose to limp on in to Vegas. The truck had other ideas.

Power was dropping rapidly and there were hills ahead of us. The jello is now on the wall. It was time to call road service. A trooper showed up and stayed with his lights on until the tow truck showed. Another two hours and we were on our way to "Sin City" on the hook of a tow truck. We got to our RV park destination at 11:30 pm instead of the 7pm we had hoped. Considering the jello in the fan day we had not too bad. We were still a day ahead of schedule.

There was some good news. The problem with the truck was minor and will be good to go at minimal cost. And it will all be done in the time frame that we had set aside for our stay in Las Vegas. Still on schedule and time to make a new batch of jello.

That is enough for now. I will sign off from our home in Las Vegas because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary